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Coal Black Mornings

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Coal Black Mornings

By: Brett Anderson
Narrated by: Brett Anderson, Matt Thorne
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Listen to the end for an audiobook exclusive: Brett Anderson in conversation with Matt Thorne, author of Prince.

Brett Anderson came from a world impossibly distant from rock star success, and in Coal Black Mornings he traces the journey that took him from a childhood as 'a snotty, sniffy, slightly maudlin sort of boy raised on Salad Cream and milky tea and cheap meat' to becoming founder and lead singer of Suede.

Anderson grew up in Hayward's Heath on the grubby fringes of the Home Counties. As a teenager he clashed with his eccentric taxi-driving father (who would parade around their council house dressed as Lawrence of Arabia, air-conducting his favourite composers) and adored his beautiful, artistic mother. He brilliantly evokes the seventies, the suffocating discomfort of a very English kind of poverty and the burning need for escape that it breeds. Anderson charts the shabby romance of creativity as he travelled the tube in search of inspiration, fuelled by Marmite and nicotine, and Suede's rise from rehearsals in bedrooms, squats and pubs. And he catalogues the intense relationships that make and break bands as well as the devastating loss of his mother.

Coal Black Mornings is profoundly moving, funny and intense - a book which stands alongside the most emotionally truthful of personal stories. Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Funny Heartfelt Thought-Provoking
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Critic reviews

A remarkable feat, utterly true. This decade's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X and Girlfriend in a Coma)
Coal Black Mornings is a triumph . . . a bracingly honest work raised way above the celeb book fray by Anderson's obvious talent for writing . . . revelatory and delivered with writerly panache (John Harris)
Fascinating . . . gorgeously written. On more than one occasion it made we well up . . . most certainly not just for the fan club
A rich, sad and honest tale (Olivia Cole)
Beautifully crafted and brilliantly well-written . . . his memoir is a thought-provoking meditation on how our childhoods form the people we become, as well as a love letter to London . . . The book is perfect as it is, but there's no question that we need a second volume (Anna van Praagh)
Coal Black Mornings is excellent: evocative, thoughtful and frank; an instant hit in a minor key. Anderson is particularly good on his unusual upbringing . . . as accomplished a writer of elegant prose as he was of narcotically enhanced lyrics about urban ennui (Neil Armstrong)
a thrillingly energetic, bracingly entertaining snapshot of a writer hitting his first full flush, leaving you wishing two things. One: that you'd formed a band. Two: that he changes his mind about documenting the coke-blurred mornings to come
An ineffably romantic coming-of-age story; a beautiful reminder of the magic that happens round the edges
Generous, funny, poignant
Perfect prose, thanks to which Coal Black Mornings does the job of describing the beauty in the banality better than any music memoir since Patti Smith's sublime Just Kids
His memoir is melancholy and evocative, a dreamy ballad recalling the time before the drugs and the band break-up
Personal and moving, unpolished and demure . . . Coal Black Mornings is a bravura performance
Revealing, funny and moving
As an antidote to all the drug-fuelled destruction, I recommend Brett Anderson's elegant Coal Black Mornings, in which the Suede frontman looks back on his pre-fame days
Few rock memoirs are worthy of critical note. Brett Anderson's richly melancholic Coal Black Mornings was an exception. Eschewing the "coke and gold discs" template, the Suede singer recounts a childhood of bohemian poverty and traces his band's vivid prehistory (George Eaton)
It shouldn't have come as a surprise that one of British pop's most original lyricists would write a book almost poetic in its language and painterly in its eye for detail, but this illuminating, moving and generous memoir by the Suede frontman still had the power to confound . . . Coal Black Mornings is a thing of beauty and a work of art
Richer and stranger than any tale of narcotic excess and success
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely loved it start to finish. very special having Brett Anderson narrating is own story to us. Like an old friend telling us of his life path.

EXCEPTIONAL!!

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Definitely a good listen for fans. Fills in many gaps. Not sure Brett's writing style translates so well to the spoken word and his slightly dour delivery doesn't match his fabulous vocal range when singing BUT.....I still loved every second of this book. His candid account of his family, early years and the emergence of suede is choice. Loved it...especially by the time I got to the end.

Honest and real.

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Great read, and achieves its aim of not being a stereotypical rock star memoir. Brett Anderson's family sound fascinating and he describes them honestly and generously. The language is as flowery and pretentious as you'd hope and it's a great story.

Fascinating story

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Really enjoyed this audible book. I felt like I was there witnessing Brett's experience, it was so well narrated. A must for any Suede fan

Brilliantly written

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Loved loved loved everything about this book. I devoured it over a few days. Brett’s prose is sublime… just like his lyrics. It made me chuckle in many parts as well. Too good!

Iconic

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